Finally, yesterday, she revealed her secret: A hot air brush. "It's a round brush that blows hot air out of it, and it's been my styling trick since high school," she explained. "Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy to attain a smooth blow dry at home (even if you're not ambidextrous, hyper-coordinated or a professional stylist). You can create a sleek look or soft, bouncy waves. I don't know why everyone doesn't use one."

Have you ever used a hot air brush? Mine is in the mail:) Thanks, Caroline!

Cool, thanks for the tip! I would be interested in a tutorial as well. Does it dry really wet hair, or do you have to air/blow dry it a bit first to get it started? And, do you go in layers, or just have at it all at once? Do tell, Caroline! :)

Ive used one since jr high. It takes longer than using a blowdryer and a brush, but I think it's easier and my hair always looks smoother and more polished. I rarely have to touch up with my flat iron when I use my hot air brush.

I bought the Revlon one, but sadly I didn't notice any difference when I used it. Maybe it's because I have super thick, hard to dry Asian hair, or maybe the heat wasn't hot enough. Would love a tutorial!

I've been using one of those automatic hair curlers lately (search for 'babylis titanium'), they are amazing! You take a 1" section of hair and the machine sucks it up and curls it beautifully - no curling expertise required. A whole head of hair is done in 15 mins and best of all, the curls last a couple of days. Literally every friend I have come across since I started using this product has offered such lovely compliments!

Scout and Rice—i'm going to look that up! i think my friend susan might use that. she always has the loveliest curls. and becca, i'm going to ask reagan for some ideas & hopefully put together some curly-haired tutorials. thank you!

Babyliss do a great version in the UK - Sali hughes does a tutorial on the Guardian website. I rough dry my hair with a hairdryer first and finish with the "big curl". I can do a smooth blow dry but im not sure how to do curls so would love a tute! Xx

Hi Christina! I usually use the hot air brush after I've gotten dressed, so my hair has a bit of time to air dry. (Or if you're in a hurry, you can blast your hair with a regular blow dryer for a couple seconds to remove the excess water.) I put half of my hair in a top knot and blow dry the bottom layer first, then dry the top and sides. Hope that helps! :)

I purchased one of these months ago after seeing it on another blog, but it turns out that my arms just don't bend the ways that they need to (backwards and upside down..?) to do anything useful. And I need two extra hands, to boot. Please share a tutorial! Otherwise it's doomed to the un-used recesses of my bathroom cupboard.

This blog post without a corresponding tutorial is just kind of mean. I purchased the hot tools version a few months ago and after a few unsuccessful attempts, I just gave up. It's now a dust collector. I figured I had too much hair or something. Help us, please!

yeah... I'm going to need a tutorial on this one. Last time I tried to use one of those I got it irretrievably stuck in my hair and had to cut it out... nearly down to the scalp... two months before my wedding. I had to get a weave to cover it.

Will you post an update once you get it telling us whether it is easy to use or not? I'm very tempted (like you I have fine, straight hair). But I want to know if it's easy to use or if it gets kicked to the back of the bathroom cabinet and never seen again. :) Thanks for having an amazing blog, by the way. I love it. (first time commenter).

Oh yes ... I love my hot air brush. It's the only way I can dry my hair myself and have it come out half decent looking! Although I've only figured out the long a sleek look by using it, not the curls, so I have some experimenting to do with it.

I used one pre-existence of the flat iron/stick straight trend (jr high/high school) and it was amazing. Blow dry your hair 2/3 dry upside down & then use it to finish just like you would with a brush and blow dryer. Makes it easier for the uncoordinated (me). I've since given up on straight/blowout hair and just use a wand to smooth out and define my natural waves. Maybe I'll dig this out of my parents house (they don't throw away anything). Ha! Thanks for the reminder!

Seriously, just yesterday as I was blow brushing my hair, I realized that I have been using the same blow brush since I started doing my own hair in grade 5, 12 years ago. THE SAME ONE. FOR TWELVE YEARS. How is that even possible? Now I feel the need to tell everyone I know, so obviously I had to comment here as well.

Ha! I used one of these for 11 years when I had short hair. It never occurred to me to use it on long hair when I grew mine out. Genius! But, now that I think about it, my round brush is 3", so I wish they made a fatter version of this.

And we always called it my "blower tool". Haha! Hot air brush is a much better name.

Now excuse me. I need to go dig my hot air brush out of the basement....

I have the Babyliss Big Hair one- and no expertise with hair- but whenever I use it , people compliment me on my hair- it just makes my v fine hair look waaay thicker- you dry your hair to 70% dry and then use the brush- and it doesn't take long at all- highly recommended.

I used one until recently (I stopped using mine because I cut my hair short). A hot air brush is a great tool, but you need some tricks to make it work. What I figured was 1) use mousse to get roots stand up 2) use finishing paste (Fructis worked best for my thick hard hair) to ends, 3) divide your hair and curl. My hair stylist told me to use a hot air brush to style, not to dry very wet hair.

Yes, I love that! It's an amazing tool to have. I use that and then of course, my favorite trick is hot rollers. I've been using those since high school! Check out my tutorial on it. http://rudeysroom.com/2013/09/27/old-hollywood-glam/